1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for depositing and retrieving mail into and from a mailing receptacle. More particularly, the present invention relates to equipment and procedures associated with the mailing process whereby handling mail is done in a secure method in order to guard against potential biohazards in contaminated mail.
2. Description of the Related Art
The United States Postal Service provides mail collection boxes in a multitude of public locations where members of the public may deposit mail items. Indeed this is true throughout the world; national postal authorities make public mailing receptacles open to the public. One of the chief design criteria for the public mailbox has been easy access and usability by the public.
In addition, the postal carriers and individuals who access public mailboxes typically do so in a hurried manner with little if any thought to potential hazards that may wait inside them. Thus the public mailbox makes an inviting target for those bent on anonymous and antisocial behavior.
These mailboxes have occasionally been the targets of pranks and vandalism. Recently there was a spate of more serious incidents involving contaminated mail. It is believed that mail was deposited and delivered through typical mail channels where the mailpieces had been deliberately contaminated with biological hazard material. Investigation has confirmed that some mailpieces deposited in mailboxes were contaminated with anthrax spores. Some members of the postal service, as a result of their handling contaminated mail, suffered exposure to the biological materials.
In response to these incidents, procedures have been developed to treat mail that is believed to be contaminated with biohazard or infectious materials. Decontamination methods have been developed that will render contaminated mail safe or harmless. However, application of these decontamination methods typically requires that suspected mail be transported from a collection location to a decontamination site. Thus, even with present decontamination procedures, there exists a risk of exposure to harmful agents within the mail while the mail is in transport to the decontamination site. Thus, there is a need to develop equipment and methods to minimize the chance of infection or exposure to biohazard material in the mail during the period between mail collection and decontamination.
The present mailbox design provides little protection against the threat posed from biohazards in contaminated mail. Accordingly, there is a need to improve the mailbox design. In addition, there is a need to develop practices and methods whereby letter carriers may perform their duties in a safe and secure manner.
It would be desirable to provide a means whereby contaminated mail in a mailbox can be collected with minimal risk of human exposure to infectious material potentially found in the mail.
It would also be desirable to retrofit the existing mailbox design such that mailboxes need not be replaced in their entirety. It would be advantageous to provide a means for secure handling of mail that can be applied to the mailbox design that is now in use.
It would also be desirable to provide a method to improve security in postal collection that can be enacted quickly and easily.